How to Press the Re-Set Button with a Fitness Career

If you’ve a passion for nutrition, exercise and fitness find out how you can seize hold of it and progress that hobby or pass time into the ultimate career move.

Our students choose to become a fitness instructor, nutrition coach or personal trainer to fulfil an ambition. Put simply, it’s that bit caught between the teeth that simply won’t go away!

For some, this is the ultimate dream. A lifelong ambition that somehow got cast aside as the day job took over. A number of years on, it hasn’t gone away and with a feeling of exciting trepidation they decide to take the plunge and pursue the fitness career of their dreams.

For others, a change in personal circumstances has prompted a rethink and re-evaluation of career options. It may be redundancy or losing their job that leads them to decide the time is right to qualify as a level 3 personal trainer and start their own self-employed personal training business. Alternatively, it may be divorce, seeking a means to increase earnings, re-location or having more free time now the children have grown-up.

If you’re thinking of a similar career change, here’s our top 3 considerations to think about when it comes to getting qualified.

1 – Pre Existing Qualifications

If you don’t already hold a Level 2 Certificate in Fitness Instructing, or similar qualification you’ll need to achieve this before you can progress to your personal trainer course. This equips you with a solid grounding in human anatomy, supporting and motivating clients, exercise prescription and planning and delivering gym focused exercise. Your PT course will build on this knowledge and develop your skills to the next level so you’re fully prepared to work safely and effectively as a REPs recognised personal trainer.

2 – Quickest isn’t always best

We’re often asked by prospective personal training students what the quickest route is to becoming qualified. If your start point is with a solid awareness of human health and fitness then the fast-track route where you can qualify with us in as little as 6-12 weeks may suit you perfectly. If your base knowledge isn’t so advanced or if you’re a little rusty in some areas, it makes sense to give yourself a little breathing space along the way. What’s most important to us is that you acquire the skills you’ll need to go on and become a successful personal trainer. To do this really well you need to be able to take your learning and apply it to each individual personal trainer client, so studying at a pace that’s right for you is crucial to your later success when you’re working one to one.

It’s a bit like learning to drive, there’s the theory and the practical side of things. Once you’ve passed you’re constantly combining these two skills without even thinking about it to successfully travel from A to B along various routes.

3 – PT Certificate v PT Diploma

There’s a misconception that one is better than the other. Whilst our Diploma in Personal Training is more advanced enabling students to acquire the skills to work with specialist groups like the severely obese, the senior market and up and coming athletes, this doesn’t make it a better choice for all future PT’s. If you’re keen to work with a broad range of clients or have a more limited budget, our Personal Training Certificate gives you everything you need to confidently set up your very own PT business.

The world of health and fitness is constantly changing. Whilst some new concepts and techniques will stick for many years, others are more of a fad as different trends come and go. The best personal trainers we know don’t see learning as a one off event, they are continually seeking to acquire new skills that further enhance the services they can offer to their clients.

If you’re considering a career change you can claim a copy of our free E-book via our website. There’s loads of tried and tested tips on starting out as a fitness instructor or personal trainer based on our real-life experiences spanning more than two decades of working in the fitness industry.

Course Director
Anita is a Director at the Academy of Fitness Professionals and joined the board in 2013. With a proven background in blue chip corporate management, training and development including Lloyds Banking Group, Prudential and Renault-Nissan she is committed to offering the very best student experience both in terms of education and value. Specialist qualifications spanning the past 25 years include; training and development, business management and finance and diet and nutrition.